News Feature
| January 8, 2014

Retail IT News For VARs — January 8, 2014

The news includes NRF’s appeal of the recent $5.7 billion swipe fee settlement, a forecast that the predictive analytics market will grow to $6,546 million by 2019, and a study that shows m-commerce is contributing to increasing online sales.

NRF Appeals Swipe Fee Settlement

The Washington Post reports that the National Retail Federation (NRF) is appealing the recent $5.7 billion settlement between retailers and Visa and MasterCard. The NRF is filing an appeal on the grounds that this settlement will not stop the card companies from raising merchant credit card fees in the future.

Predictive Analytics Market On The Rise

According to a new report by Transparency Market Research, the global market for predictive analytics software is expected to reach $6,546.4 million by 2019. The demand for customer intelligence and fraud and security intelligence software will be the main factor driving this market growth. Cloud-based predictive analytics software will also be increasingly in demand as the years progress and will also be responsible for driving some market growth. While banking, finance services, and insurance companies will account for the largest market share, retail and manufacturing are also expected to see faster growth.

M-Commerce Helps Drive Online Sales

IBM recently released its fourth quarter Digital Analytics Benchmark report, which shows online sales were up 10.3 percent year over year, Internet Retailer says. Department stores saw the greatest gains in the last three months, with online sales increasing 62.8 percent. Following in second place were home goods retailers, up 46.3 percent. Health and beauty retailers saw a 14.7 percent increase. Apparel came in fourth place, increasing 10.2 percent. Mobile was a big driver of traffic, with tablets and smartphones accounting for 35 percent of online traffic. While smartphones saw greater traffic than tablets (21.3 vs. 12.8 percent), tablets were more popular for making purchases. Tablets accounted for 11.5 percent of sales compared to smartphones’ 5 percent.

2014 Global E-Commerce Trends

Forrester Research has released its global e-commerce report, which identifies several trends that will be seen in 2014. A larger number of brands will be launching new mobile sites and apps to meet the increases in mobile traffic and sales. Forrester also expects brands will be looking to marketplaces to sell online. There will be key online shopping dates that global retailers will need to be aware of in order to grab a larger number of sales from all markets. Finally, brands expanding internationally — especially those hoping to launch direct-to-consumer websites — will still struggle to gain profits.

5 Methods To Compete In M-Commerce

Practical Ecommerce has compiled a list of five key points that retailers must consider and address on their mobile sites in order to compete in m-commerce. Aiming for responsive design with a one-second load time, delivering “right-sized” images/graphics, and providing social login services and alternative payment services are all important. In addition, application-like features, including geo-location technology and augmented reality features, could help encourage engagement with a mobile site.

Retail IT Talking Points

Search Engine Watch has compiled a list of social media advertising trends to watch for in 2014. The article highlights the success Twitter has had throughout 2013, meaning it could serve as a particularly important ad platform in 2014. Similarly, Facebook could see more success with video ads. As more companies turn to social media, their advertisements will blend much more seamlessly into the social media format, “blurring the lines between organic and paid social content.”

Iman Sadreddin for Multichannel Merchant has compiled a list of ten capabilities that a retail e-commerce site must have in 2014. Some of these capabilities include: enhanced image zoom, single sign-on and guest transactions, social integration, typo-sensitive search, and omni-channel visibility.

Following this holiday’s shipping issues, Tom Risen for U.S. News and World Report speculates that companies will be taking new measures to cut down on last-minute gift orders. Scaling back on emails promising last-minute gift deliveries, raising shipping prices near busy delivery times, and establishing new websites that specialize in last-minute delivery are some possible solutions.